In The News

The outrage was visceral last spring when ESPN aired the damning video showing Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice shoving his players, hurling gay slurs and throwing basketballs at their heads. He was fired as a result, along with Rutgers’s athletic director, faulted for not responding more forcefully when first presented with the footage...

If there’s a takeaway from the ugly episode, Diana Cutaia, founder of Coaching Peace Consulting, hopes it awakens athletes to their right to “push back” against extreme tactics and persuades athletic directors to intervene when coaches simply rage rather than instruct.

“It’s scary to be an 18-year-old and be in a situation where your college coach has national attention, is very powerful,” Cutaia said. “You’re going to go and say, ‘He dropped the F-bomb on me three times,’ and most likely somebody’s going to say, ‘Suck it up!’ But that child has every right to say, ‘I don’t deserve to be treated this way.’”